Make Your Idea Matter: Stand Out with a Better Story

This is a must read book for "all business owners." Don't write your bio or make a FB business page without this AMAZING LITTLE BOOK. It is an open and read start to finish. I love a great story. Business is developed around the story you believe in. Tell that story not an inflated one you think others need or want to hear and just tell "what you are doing and why" That is MUCH MORE COMPELLING! That helps you create also understand what and why you do what you do.Most business books I can only read some of than I have to put it down to read something not so technicle or filled with instruction and refrence to read something else as they often refer you around to other great books and then I'll go in search of them so I don't forget and put them in my wish list.Here you get so much information BUT you get to the HERE AND NOW! You do not need to keep stopping to write something down to remember it. I often listen twice to the great ones I listen or read through once first than either go back and highlight what I know is most important or read again just to write down the things I wanted to keep easily accessible. I find I feel too much is important on my first read. So i'll capture it àfter I know what will help me most, not all the fluff I thought was important on my first pass.THIS BOOK IS FLUFF FREE!The author and editor made so much relevant that there not much that does not matter here its all relevant. You either know it will be easy enough to remember or easy enough to relocate. It is rare a book that can be this short and pack such a perfect punch! MAJOR kudo's to writer and editor! I will refer back often to my "memory."Do yourself a favor and read this book today spend $3.00. It just might just be the best investment you make in finding what you REALLY NEED and in one of the shortest business books ever that you'll truly get what you need to know and why! This is a read and take action in one day book. VERY INSPIRING IF YOU HAVE A GOOD STORY TO TELL AND IF ITS UNCLEAR THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU FIGURE THAT OUT VERY QUICKLY.

Initially I heard about this book on Seth Godin's blog. I too subscribe to Bernadette's blog. I clicked the Amazon link in one of her recent blog posts. I had a look and the content seemed to resonate with my mini crisis.And last night I was having a mini crisis - a momentary dip in confidence and flurry of self-doubt. You know, the thing that happens to all of us that are trying to change the status quo.We all have moments where we feel stuck in a working world that is not quite working for us. If you have an idea with a blog, a book, a product, a business, whatever and in the early stages of developing a brand that you may want to matter this book is great. Will it work? Do I have what it takes? Will I be as good as that pro-blogger/speaker/product maker over there? Will I be able to build a little tribe - a niche group of 1000 true fans that will keep me cooking? Does my story carry meaning? Do I actually have something that people can benefit from?I could not sleep. I needed a mental reset. I bought the book on my Kindle, impulsively. Stayed up late and read to 50% on the kindle. It was easy and poignant - I just kept pressing the next page. It was a salve for my aspirational self. This book wont change your life (no book will; you change your life), but it will stimulate the right part of your mind to get you moving forward with your idea. Its concise and easy to digest. The content is sound. The stuff on branding, doing, building trust, connecting to fans is excellent. Its ace.Lots to think, reflect and act on. I was highlighting heaps of stuff on the kindle - stuff worth reviewing. At 3 bucks the value way way way exceeds the monetary cost.Thanks Bernadette

Reading Make Your Idea Matter was like taking a huge gulp of air after being nearly drowned by the constant messages that come into my inbox promising that if only I "build my list, use this technique to get followers, buy this product to amplify my message," I can earn six figures next month.The reason these promises seem hollow is because they are. I'm sure people can make millions by pushing this kind of information out to people like me and charging them for it. My problem is that I want the work I do to matter to people. To make a difference in the world. To actually help people or improve their lives. I don't want to build my list for the sake of building it or for the sake of selling something to people later. I want to start a conversation. If people buy something from me, I want it to be because they believe in the product or service I am offering.None of this is to say that money doesn't matter - it does. But the REASON why you are doing what you are doing to earn money matters more. Bernadette Jiwa's phenomenally inspiring book teaches us that and more. The book shows us how to follow our hearts first, tell our stories second, and sell third - but only by funneling our sales through our hearts and our stories.The book is written in small, very digestible chapters. It's easy to read. I highlighted what seemed like a gazillion passages.Get this book if you want to run a business that not only matters to you, but to the people you serve!

Each short chapter offers a lot to pause and think about when developing a marketing strategy and brand tone of voice.

While there are useful insights in this book, it can be repetitive. Plus I subscribe to her Blog which is free and includes much of the same information.

Greetings Amazon readers from rural Australia,I've been reading business books since 1983. When I started my first business in 'The Land of Oz'.Since then, I've read thousands of books. Plus. Attended too many business seminars to even begin to count them.I've yet to NOT learn something from everything I've read. And heard.There is always a kernel of information in books and seminars that makes a difference to what I do. Perhaps it's a reminder of something I've forgotten. Or it's genuinely something I haven't come across before. Or perhaps it's something that ties together the loose strings of information rattling around in my head.I'm a huge fan of Bernadette Jiwa. I'm a subscriber to her newsletter 'The Story Of Telling'. And have read all of her books.I read 'Make Your Idea Matter. Stand Out With A Better Story.' on my desktop Kindle in one go. And that reading changed how I do some things.This is the email I sent Bernadette after finishing this book.Start of email:"Greetings Bernadette from The Fitz Like A Glove Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies,I read your book ‘Make Your Idea Matter. Stand Out With A Better Story.’ on my Amazon desktop Kindle yesterday. Finished it in one go. Love that Kindle allows you to copy. And make notes.Out of all your books that I’ve read, this has been the most inspiring for me.It motivated me to change the wording on standard phrases I use in emails. When answering enquiries.And to change the wording in an email that I use on Mailchimp. To send to customers.The best take out for me is: ‘make the customer the hero’.Second best is ‘why should they care about what I do’?"Take care,Carol JonesEnd of email.No book is a magic panacea that fixes all our problems.There is never an ABC to follow that suits every business.But when a book makes you think. And motivates you to make changes that make a difference to you. And to your customers. It's time well spent reading it.I highly recommend reading 'Make Your Idea Matter. Stand Out With A Better Story.' to those of you who want to make your customer the hero of everything you create in print, the internet, and social media.Because. When addressing - why should they care about what you do? - it will change how you speak to them.That will be your blueprint for making your customer the hero of every story you tell them about yourself.And that will change what they think about you. Your products. And services.I no longer answer email enquiries about my product range without asking myself first: why should this person care about this product? What will it do for them? How will it change their life?And then. When writing back to them, making sure they are the hero of the story I tell them when answering their question/s about my products. And what I do.I hope this book does for you. What it did for me.Best wishes,Carol JonesDirectorThe Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies

It's Okay.Felt like I was reading her presentation notes. But interesting notes at least.

The author uses contemporary examples to demonstrate her ideas, showing relevance to the world we live in today. While more and more authors and other entrepreneurs are calling for more heart-based, ethical, and considerate behaviour B. Jiwa does so in ways that appeal to the head as much as the heart.The book has many excellent questions that are designed to make you dig deeply into your own motivations, values, and beliefs, without being saccharine or feeling lectured to.I enjoyed every part of this book and it's definitely one to use as a prompt and reference source for subsequent read-throughs.

It clarified a lot of rough ideas of my own and that I got from other books. It gave perspective to a lot of those ideas